Analysis of a Malaysian Edition of Foreign Magazines in Portraying Women's Issue
Keywords:
women, gender roles, magazine, content analysis, MalaysiaAbstract
In the last 20 years there has been an influx of women magazines in the market and its fast becoming a popular media that is widely read by women of all ages. Most magazines have a specific target audience, often a particular age and gender group attached to a hobby, interest or lifestyle. Magazines unlike books offer “light reading” thus sustaining the interest of the reader and has a relatively longer shelf life. Magazines are perhaps one of the most powerful educational forces in society. Women and teenage girls are becoming dependent on these magazines for guidance and advice which only reinforces their belief on what is accepted by society. For many women and teenage girls, these magazines play an important socializing function through the stories they tell in their contents and worth, love and sexuality, popularity and normalcy. In a mediated society, audience receives more information from the media rather than from textbooks, schools and family about sex (Haryati, 2008).This paper examines how women issues are portrayed in local edition of a foreign magazine in terms of choice of content and advertisement. What do these publications communicate to women about gender and gender roles? It is undeniable that communication is extremely important for women’s development and mass media play significant role in communication. It is to be noted that growth of women’s education and their entry into employment has contributed to the growth of media and vice versa. It is true that media has brought to light, as never before, certain misdemeanours against women which have helped in progress of women but in a very subtle manner it also perpetuated the stereotyped image of woman as a householder and an inconsequential entity in the traditional value system. Have the changes of representation of women over the period of time only opened doors for single women? Or does it confirm to some of the traditional notions about married women and their role in society? That is the question we wish to deal with in this paper. The objective of this study is to examine a local edition of a foreign
Malaysian women’s magazine which appeals to homemakers on role portrayals of women in organizations.
Downloads
References
Arnett, J. J. (1995). Adolescents’ uses of media for self-socialization. Journal of youth and adolescence, 24(5), 519-533.
Aubrey, S J. (2010). Looking Good Versus Feeling Good: An investigation of media Frames of Health Advice and Their Effects on Women’s Body-related Self-perceptions, Sex Roles, 63, 50-63.
Bartsch, R.A., Burnett, T., Diller, T.R. & Rankin-Williams, E. (2000). Gender representation in television commercials: updating an update, Sex Roles, 43, 735-43.
Chyong-Ling Lin & Jin-Tsann Yeh (2009). Comparing Society’s Awareness of Women: Media-Portrayed Idealized Images and Physical Attractiveness. Journal of Business Ethics, 90, 61–79
Chyong-Ling Lin (2008). Sexual Issues: The Analysis of Female Role Portrayal Preferences in Taiwanese Print Ads. Journal of Business Ethics, 83, 409–418.
Demarest, J., & Garner, J. (1992). The representation of women’s roles in women’s magazines over the past 30 years. Journal of Psychology, 126(4), 357-369.
Devereux, E. (2003). Understanding the media. London: Sage.
Dowling, G. R. (1978). Sex-role Stereotypes of Women in Australian Magazine Advertising. Australian Journal of Management, 3(1), 65- 77.
Fels, A. (2004), Do Women Lack Ambition? Harvard Business Review 82(4), 50–60.
Ferri, A.J., & Keller, J.E. (1986). Perceived career barriers for female television news anchors. Journalism Quarterly, 63(3), 463-467.
Fredrickson, B L., & Roberts, T.A. (1997) Objectification theory: Towards an understanding women’s lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 173-206.
Fung, A. (2002). Women’s Magazine: Construction of Identities and Cultural Consumption in Hong Kong. Consumption, Markets and Culture, 5(4), 321-336.
Gomez, L. (2011, May 7). Push and pull for flexitime. New Straits Times, pp. 13.
Jean, K. (2003). The More You Subtract, the More You Add: Cutting Girls Down to Size.” In Gender, Race, and Class in Media: A Text-reader, eds. Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez, 258–67. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Kang, M. E. (1997). The portrayal of women’s images in magazine advertisements: Goffman’s gender analysis revisited. Sex Roles, 37(11-12), 979-996.
Karim, H.A. (2008) The Ideology od sex and love in English women magazine, a challenge to tradition, Proceedings of the national Conference on Social Problems in Malaysia, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, IIUM, 145-160.
Kian, E. M. (2008). Study examines stereotypes in two national newspapers. Newspaper Research Journal, 29(3), 38.
Kilbourne, J. (1999). Deadly persuasion: Why women and girls must fight the addictive power of advertising. New York: Free Press.
Kim, W. L. (2006). Ways Of Seeing Malaysian Women: Sketches of Women In Magazines In The Global Age. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 22, 117-133.
Krassas, N. R., Blauwkamp, J. M., & Wesselink, P. (2001). Boxing Helena and corseting Eunice: Sexual rhetoric in Cosmopolitan and Playboy magazines. Sex roles, 44(11-12), 751-771.
Lindner, K. (2004). Images of women in general interest and fashion magazine advertisements from 1955 to 2002. Sex Roles, 51(7-8), 409-421.
List, K. K. (1986). Magazine portrayals of women’s roles in the New Republic. Journalism History, 13, 64-70.
Lysonski, S. (1985). Role portrayals in British magazine advertisements. European Journal of Marketing, 19, 37-55.
Matelski, J. M. (1985). Image and influence: Women in public television. Journalism Quarterly, 62, 147-150.
Moore, D. (1991). Entitlement and justice evaluations: Who should get more, and why. Social Psychology Quarterly, 208-223.
Plakoyiannaki, E., & Zotos, Y. (2008). Female role stereotypes in print advertising. Identifying associations with magazine and product categories. European Journal of Marketing (43) 11/12, 1411-1434.
Rayburn, C. A., & Richmond, L. J. (1998). Thoebiology: Attempting to Understand God and Ourselves, Journal of Religion and Health 37, 345–356.
Rhode, D. L. (1995). Media images, feminist issues. Signs, 20(3), 685-710. 66 IPBJ Vol. 6 (1), 49-67 (2014)
Sharits, D., & B. Lammers (1983). ‘Perceived Attributes of Models in Prime-Time and Daytime Television Commercials: A Person Perception Approach’, Journal of Marketing Research, 20(1), 64–74.
Silver, D. (1986). A comparison of newspaper coverage of male and female officials in Michigan. Journalism Quarterly, 63, 144-149.
Silverstein, A.J., & Silverstein, R. (1974). The portrayal of women in television advertising. Federal Communications Bar Journal, 27(1), 71-93.
Stankiewicz, J. M., & Rosselli, F. (2008). Women as sex objects and victims in print advertisements. Sex Roles, 58(7-8), 579-589.
Thomsen, R.S., Weber, M.M., & Brown, B.L. (2002). The relationship between reading beauty and fashion magazines and the use of pathogenic dieting methods among adolescent females. Adolescence, 37(145), 1-18.
Van Zoonen, L. (1994). Feminist media studies. London: Sage.
Whipple, T., & Courtney, A. E. (1980). How to portray women in television commercials. Journal of Advertising Research, 13, 53-59.
Zhang, L., Srisupandit, Tony., & Cartwright, D. (2009) A comparison of gender role portrayals in magazine advertising. Management Research News, (7) 32, 683-700.
i http://www.northallertoncoll.org.uk/media/magsgender.htm retrieved on 30th March 2006
ii http://www.northallertoncoll.org.uk/media/magsgender.htm retrieved on 30th March 2006
iii http://www.sun2surf.com/articlePrint.cfm?id=12065 retrieved on 29th March 2006
iv www.magzter.com › Blu Inc Media Sdn Bhd
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Disclaimer
Global Business Management Review (GBMR) has taken all reasonable measures to ensure that material contained in this website is the original work of the author(s). However, the Journal gives no warranty and accepts no responsibility for the accuracy or the completeness of the material; no reliance should be made by any user on the material. The user should check with the authors for confirmation.
Articles published in the Global Business Management Review (GBMR) do not represent the views held by the editors and members of the editorial board. Authors are responsible for all aspects of their articles except the editorial screen design.
Submission of an article is done with the understanding that the article has not been published before (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, or thesis) that it is not under consideration for publication somewhere else; that if and when the article is accepted for publication, the author's consent to automatic transfer of the copyright to the publisher.